This invention relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to providing partitioned telecommunications services to wireless terminals.
In any given geographic area, there is currently a small number of service providers providing wireless service in that area. Generally, each of the service providers maintains its own wireless network infrastructure to provide such services. For example, consider a geographic area which is served by two wireless service providers. Each service provider will have its own network, consisting of at least one mobile switching center (MSC) and a number of radio base stations (RBS) connected to that MSC. The MSCs and RBSs are used to provide the standard wireless communication functions in a geographic area, and the architecture and operation of MSCs and RBSs is well known for providing these functions. In addition to the MSCs and RBSs, a wireless telecommunication network will generally include other network nodes as well. These other nodes include message centers (MC) for sending text messages to messaging capable wireless terminals, voice message systems (VMS) for providing voice mail services, and home location registers (HLR) which are databases which store subscriber profile information. It is the use and configuration of these other network nodes which allow a service provider to provide additional services and functionality to its subscribers. It is the use and configuration of these other network nodes in the provisioning of wireless services which allows a service provider to differentiate itself from other service providers. Thus, a given service provider""s services will have a certain xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d, based on the use and configuration of these other network nodes.
For example, service provider A may provide network call forwarding and voice mail services to its subscribers, whereas service provider B, providing service in the same area, may provide short message service but no call forwarding or voice mail services. Thus, the xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d of wireless service experienced by subscribers in that geographic area will be different depending on which service provider is providing service.
Currently, there exist service providers which do not maintain their own network, but resell the network services of other service providers. These resellers must accept the network configuration of the service provider from which they are reselling. In such a case, subscribers of both the network owner and the reseller will experience the same wireless network features and services. Similarly, there are certain geographic markets in which two or more service providers are in a partnership and they both provide wireless services using the same network infrastructure. In such markets, the partnering service providers cannot distinguish or customize their services because they are both using the same network infrastructure to provide service to their customers.
Currently the only way for a service provider to provide customized wireless network services in a geographic area is to maintain its own network in that area. However, this is often economically impossible or impractical. This is especially true as the number of service providers in an area grows.
Thus, there is a need for a technique which allows service providers to share the basic resources of a telecommunications network infrastructure while allowing each service provider to customize the services and features provided to its subscribers.
The present invention is a method and apparatus for providing partitioned wireless telecommunication services. In accordance with the invention a wireless switch receives a service request from a wireless terminal and identifies a service provider associated with the wireless terminal. Telecommunication services are then provided to the wireless terminal using network resources associated with the identified service provider.
In accordance with additional aspects of the invention, each service provider maintains its own set of wireless network resources which are used to provide services to the service provider""s customers in conjunction with shared network infrastructure. In one embodiment, a service provider may maintain its own subscriber profile database which stores the service profile for subscribers. Upon receipt of a service request from a wireless terminal, the switch performs a database lookup to the subscriber profile database associated with the service provider of the wireless terminal and thereafter provides telecommunication services to the wireless terminal in accordance with the subscriber profile.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the resources associated with the various service providers may be physically partitioned among service providers or they may be logically partitioned among service providers.
The principles of the present invention may be applied to systems which provide service to any type of wireless terminal, including mobile stations and fixed stations.
These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.